RRND Email Full Text (Scheduled)


  • Freedom Fuel?

    Source: Reason
    by Peter Suderman

    “This week on social media, the Trump administration touted the launch of Freedom Fuel, a network of gas stations ‘lowering the price at the pump to $3.47 for our 47th president.’ … Inevitably, this initiative produced cries of socialism and comparisons to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s sure-to-be-a-boondoggle government-run grocery store initiative. But these comparisons were misplaced, at least if the Trump administration is to be believed. According to CBS News, the Freedom Fuel network ‘is private and owns 25 filling stations across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The spokesperson said the Trump administration is not involved with the company and is not subsidizing the gas stations.’ So this probably isn’t a case of government-run gas stations. Instead, it’s another familiar feature of Trump-era politics and media: something happening that has little to do with the White House—and Trump taking credit.” (07/09/26)

    https://reason.com/2026/07/09/freedom-fuel/

  • Trump Says the Ceasefire is Over. The Law Says — Twice — the Iran War is Over.

    Source: Garrison Center
    by Thomas L Knapp

    “Every American continues to pay at the gas pump and the grocery store for this idiotic, illegal war. Some Americans have paid, and more may pay, with their lives before it’s over. And when it’s over, the US will be worse off than before. End this nonsense now.” (07/09/26)

    https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20754

  • What’s special about poor conservative students?

    Source: Expression
    by Chapin Lenthall-Cleary

    “Among liberals and moderates, there’s very little relationship between economic class and tolerance. But among conservative students, the poorer you are, the more tolerant you’re likely to be. The effect holds for both men and women, and it’s no small effect: at roughly 10 percentage points in both dimensions, the gap between rich and poor conservatives almost rivals the gender gap. Indeed, among men, poor conservatives are nearly as tolerant of left-wing speakers as liberals of all classes.” (07/09/26)

    https://expression.fire.org/p/whats-special-about-poor-conservative

  • Trump decries “communism” while his government takes ownership of companies

    Source: Los Angeles Times
    by Jackie Calmes

    “In recent speeches, including on the Fourth of July, Trump’s utterances of ‘communist’ or ‘communism’ reached double digits each time. … ‘Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America,’ Trump said late on the Fourth on the National Mall Trump couples his commie-baiting with a dash of his trademark xenophobia. ‘There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including by newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success,’ he said at Mount Rushmore a day earlier. (He’s got it backward, of course: Immigrants come here for the American way of life and promise of success.) Here’s the irony: Trump’s actions in his second term make him look more like the commie. He’s projecting again.” (07/09/26)

    https://archive.is/35E7H

  • The Cost of the American Revolution

    Source: EconLog
    by Vincent Geloso & Antoine Noël

    “The core of this argument is that the American Founding set the United States on a unique path that made it one of the richest and freest places in the world. Yet, this causal connection requires a leap of faith. Few have attempted to conjure a counterfactual in which America remained a British colony or became independent in ways similar to later British Dominions (e.g., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa). Serious causal inference generally requires the use of large datasets to infer the effects of important policy changes or some large exogenous shocks. For nations, especially in the more distant past, this is even more challenging because of data paucity, limited numbers of observations, and other confounding factors. It may even be impossible. A possible alternative course is to rely on analytical narratives to construct a theory, laying out assumptions and predictions.” (07/09/26)

    https://www.econlib.org/econlog/the-cost-of-the-american-revolution

  • Cut the Pentagon, Save the Planet: The $1.5 Trillion Climate Solution We Can’t Ignore

    Source: Common Dreams
    by Aaron Kirshenbaum

    “Last week, millions of people around the world were subjected to record-breaking heatwaves. At least 25 deaths in the U.S. from this heat dome were reported. The French government also counted over 2,000 excess deaths during the June heatwaves. At the same time, this past weekend, a devastating super typhoon hit the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, leaving islands like Rota, where 2,000 people live, without running water and most buildings impacted. In both cases, the people least responsible for the climate crisis are the most vulnerable to its effects. And in both cases, people’s ability to withstand crises has been made dramatically worse by militarization. Those most threatened by heatwaves are too often in neighborhoods subjected to militarized policing, economic abandonment, and the exploitation of their communities. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are occupied by the U.S. military and subjected to environmentally destructive bases and training exercises.” (07/09/26)

    https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/1-5-trillion-pentagon-budget-2677197074

  • Trump’s Last Chance for Ukraine Peace

    Source: The American Conservative
    by Andrew Day

    “Way back in November 2022, disagreement broke out inside the Biden administration about the implications of recent military gains made by Ukraine. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised pushing hard for a diplomatic settlement to lock in those gains. He warned that Ukraine’s battlefield position—and thus also its bargaining position—was likely to worsen in the coming months. Biden listened instead to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. They counseled against peace talks while Ukraine had the momentum and a chance to roll back the Russian invaders. … Now, nearly four years later, Western media again are saying that ‘the tide has turned’ against Russia. And the White House has again concluded that it’s therefore a bad time to push for peace. But sooner or later, the tide will turn again, and the next big wave could drown Ukraine.” (07/09/26)

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trumps-last-chance-for-ukraine-peace/

  • The Missing Piece in the Graham Platner Controversy

    Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
    by Jacob G Hornberger

    “The recriminations and second-guessing are flying from all directions with respect to the flame-out of Democrat candidate Graham Platner’s U.S. Senate campaign in Maine. Most everyone’s commentaries are revolving out of the ramifications of the sex-abuse allegations, including rape, from old girlfriends of Platner. Some of the critics are pointing to other disturbing aspects of Platner’s life, such as a Nazi-like tattoo on his chest and crude and offensive remarks in Reddit posts. What the critics and commentators don’t do, however, is point to the core reason why this man got so screwed-up emotionally and psychologically: his four military deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. It is those four deployments that are at the core of Platner’s dysfunctional behavior and abusive relationships with women.” (07/09/26)

    https://www.fff.org/2026/07/09/the-missing-piece-in-the-graham-platner-controversy/

  • Jasmine Crockett blasts her Texas Dem primary loss as “racist race”

    Source: Fox News Forum
    by Hanna Panreck

    “Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said her Democratic Senate primary race was ‘a racist race’ in an interview published Wednesday and argued she didn’t need to campaign with her former opponent and the party’s nominee, James Talarico. Crockett said at the Essence Festival alongside the hosts of the ‘Native Land’ podcast that the best thing she could do for former primary foe Talarico was to endorse Black candidates down ballot so more Black voters turn out in November. ‘The best thing that I can do is take down-ballot candidates who no one’s ever heard of and do my best to uplift them and increase the voter participation in a way that we did in Texas,’ she said.” [editor’s note: Okay, so this loser in a “racist race” is going to support other candidates based SOLELY on the color of their skin, not the content of their character. – SAT] (07/09/26)

    https://www.foxnews.com/media/jasmine-crockett-blasts-texas-democratic-primary-loss-racist-race

  • School choice for me, but not for thee

    Source: Washington Post
    by Corey DeAngelis

    “[Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona)] sent his daughter to a private school. The senator’s own background includes public schooling, but the choice he made for his child stands in contrast to the opposition he now leads to making similar options available for more families. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) graduated from the private Emma Willard School and sent both of her sons to a private school in Washington. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) sent one of her two children to private schools — and then said she did not in 2019 at an event during her presidential campaign. … The pattern is consistent. Lawmakers who benefited from private schooling or chose it for their children now work to keep these doors closed for other families.” (07/09/26)

    https://archive.is/lWY5C

  • Slimy Dems (the party of Me Too) show their true colors in Graham Platner scandal

    Source: New York Post
    by Miranda Devine

    “The party of Me Too has shown its true face in the rolling Graham Platner scandal. Now that a liberal woman has credibly accused him of rape, the rats have deserted the sinking ship and the Democrat-endorsed US Senate candidate for Maine has dropped out. But it’s ‘Me Too’ late to save face. Conservatives always knew the left’s effort to assert moral superiority on matters of sex, race and ideology were play-acting but now it’s undeniable for even their most blinkered supporters. The Democratic Party’s defense of Platner to the bitter end against an avalanche of rape and sexual abuse allegations, not to mention his Nazi tattoo, has left them exposed as hypocrites.” [editor’s note: Gotta agree — Democrats ARE just like Republicans – TLK] (07/08/26)

    https://nypost.com/2026/07/08/opinion/miranda-devine-slimy-dems-the-party-of-me-too-show-their-true-colors-in-graham-platner-scandal/

  • The Death of Reading

    Source: Brownstone Institute
    by Ann Bauer

    “People didn’t HAVE to read, they GOT to read. They did it ostentatiously and with zeal. And this habit lasted, in one form or another, until recently when reading for enjoyment started to tank. Blame the Internet and social media and our fractured attention span. Blame Oprah, who in her quest to ‘get people reading’ promoted one title and focused every English-speaking woman’s attention on it, to the exclusion of every other book on the planet. But the real culprit, if you ask me, is politics.” [editor’s note: Are people really “reading less?” Or are they just reading on screens instead of from books, just like people started reading from books instead of scrolls and scrolls instead of clay tablets? – TLK] (07/09/26)

    https://brownstone.org/articles/the-death-of-reading/

  • Political candidates, character, and conscience

    Source: Christian Science Monitor
    by staff

    “The right to support and elect candidates for political office is a distinguishing feature of democracy. It can also be a profoundly challenging privilege, as political parties and the voting public weigh information and perceptions around candidates’ policies and personal appeal, their competence and character. Around the world, voters want ability and integrity from their politicians. Increasingly, they also want authenticity, a sense that those running for office understand ‘regular’ people and their daily lives and struggles. Three candidacies in the news this week underscore the civic tension among these needs and demands: the nomination for a United States Senate seat, a local council election in the United Kingdom, and a presidential run in France. Graham Platner in the U.S., Nigel Farage in the U.K., and Marine Le Pen in France all seem to have tapped into voters’ everyday concerns – and their yearning for recognition.” (07/08/26)

    https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0708/Political-candidates-character-and-conscience

  • Steaming Mad

    Source: Foundation for Economic Education
    by Jake Scott

    “The average Dutch gamer has lost €130 ($148). At least, that is a claim being made in the Hague by a foundation. On June 11, the Stichting Consumenten Competition Claims (SCCC), acting under the banner GameClaim on behalf of every Dutch personal computer (PC) gamer, filed a €220 million ($250 million) claim against the Valve Corporation, the business that operates the Steam gaming platform. The SCCC claims that roughly 2 million accounts have lost collectively those €220 million on the basis that the Valve Corporation commands some 85% of the market, and defends that position through Most-Favored-Nation clauses—terms that forbid developers from undercutting their Steam price on rival storefronts such as Epic Games Store (EGS).” (07/a09/26)

    https://fee.org/articles/steaming-mad/

  • A New Map of the Constitution

    Source: Law & LIberty
    by John O McGinnis

    “Ilan Wurman offers a lucid case for recovering the Constitution’s original structure—and the responsibility rests with us.” (07/09/26)

    https://lawliberty.org/book-review/a-new-map-of-the-constitution/

  • Free Market Solutions for the US Virgin Islands Financial Crisis

    Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
    by Karl Dickey

    “Refinancing bad debt with new bonds fails and the territory must deregulate utilities to avoid a bailout.” (07/09/26)

    https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/free-market-solutions-for-the-us

  • What’s the Real “Defining Image of Race in America”?

    Source: Town Hall
    by Larry Elder

    “Reuters published a photograph taken during the weekend of America’s 250th birthday celebration. It depicted a young black woman seated by herself on a packed D.C. Metro train. Standing and sitting around her were white men wearing white masks. They belong to a white nationalist organization called Patriot Front, a group involved in the violent 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia, rally that resulted in the death of a woman. The intimidating-looking men reportedly said nothing to the woman and never threatened her, and she remained composed. The photo quickly went viral and was hailed by many journalists and commentators as a microcosm of America in this era of President Donald Trump. ” (07/09/26)

    https://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2026/07/09/whats-the-real-defining-image-of-race-in-america-n2679071

  • The New Conquistadors: Surveillance Capitalism and the Digital Frontier Between Your Ears

    Source: CounterPunch
    by John Kendall Hawkins

    “The atmosphere Snowden describes in vault V22 at NSA headquarters — decorated, let the detail stand, with a seven-foot poster of Chewbacca — is not the atmosphere of men who believe they are doing something wrong. It is the atmosphere of men who believe they are entitled. The technology did not corrupt them. It handed them a key. This is the surveillance state at its most human, which is to say, its most revealing. The apparatus built to protect a democracy from its enemies was being used by young men to look at photographs of women who had no idea they were being watched. The technology did not create the entitlement. It removed the friction that previously constrained it.” (07/09/26)

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/09/the-new-conquistadors-surveillance-capitalism-and-the-digital-frontier-between-your-ears/

  • More Paperwork Won’t Make Medicine Cheaper

    Source: The Daily Economy
    by Layal Bou Harfouch

    “Transparency matters, but the Department of Labor’s duplicative disclosure mandates could increase compliance costs while strengthening the industry’s largest firms.” (07/09/26)

    https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/more-paperwork-wont-make-medicine-cheaper/

  • Five outrageous ways defense contractors have buttered up Trump

    Source: Responsible Statecraft
    by Stavroula Pabst

    “From a new helipad to a UFC fight on White House grounds, President Trump’s personal projects have been front-and-center in American politics this summer. Defense contractors that do business with the administration have often supported them. But the weapons industry has long leveraged flashy gifts and sponsorships to engender influence among politicians, key institutions, and the public. Here are 5 notable cases when it comes to the Trump White House …” (07/09/26)

    https://responsiblestatecraft.org/weapons-industry-trump/

  • Introducing Plan A

    Source: Astral Codex Ten

    “What would it take to honestly tell our children that we rose to the occasion, to make the AI transition go down alongside the American Revolution and D-Day as one of our country’s finest hours? If your brain sputters and throws an error message at the question, isn’t that a problem? It’s a total coincidence that Plan A comes out the week after America’s 250th birthday. It was supposed to come out earlier, but got delayed. Then it was supposed to come out later, but got pushed forward.” (07/09/26)

    https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/introducing-plan-a